1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air duct system for air conditioning or heating and more particularly an air duct system employing flexible materials to form duct side walls in raised floor and lowered ceiling environments.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the prior art, there are various patents which relate to ducting systems generally.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,595,408 discloses a flexible pipe used for irrigation systems. However, the pipe disclosed in the patent is of cylindrical construction and is not adapted to duct air or deflected air in dropped ceiling and raised floor environments.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,551,751 discloses an air conditioning conduit which is pliable and which is designed 14 for installation in older buildings for moving cooled air from a source to a room to be cooled. The pliable conduit disclosed in this patent, like the flexible pipe of U.S. Pat. No. 2,595,408, forms a complete enclosure and does not contemplate using the sub floor and raised floor as top and bottom of a conduit, nor does it contemplate the use of a single strip of flexible material as an air deflector for directing heated or cooled air to a desired area to be conditioned.
Another example of the prior art is showed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,352,876, in which sections of collapsable fire-resistent corrugate board is used to form ducting for heated air. As with the prior patents discussed above, this patent does not contemplate applicant's invention.
Another patent having a similar construction to U.S. Pat. No. 2,353,876 is U.S. Pat. No. 3,078,880, which discloses a folding insulated duct. Again the duct is the complete enclosure of generally rectangular shape, having portions formed so as to be assembled with edges of the preformed ducting having made in portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,159 shows a ventilating air distributing duct system employing fiberglass sections as wall members of the ducts for installation in drop ceiling applications. The system disclosed in the patent requires an enclosed duct system for air distribution and requires a very complex support structure neither of which are required by applicant's invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,733 describes a system for distributing heated air in a mobile home application wherein blankets of insulation formed in U-shaped members by heating air ducts within the mobile home. The duct system shown in the patent requires a firm support box shown in FIG. 3 of the patent as elements 12, 13, and 14, to support the U-shaped insulation blanket to form the heating duct. Further, a channel member 16 is contained within the insulated channel to actually carry the heated air. The structure of the patent is much more complex and expensive then the structure of an embodiment of applicant's invention. Further, as with the previous prior art patents discussed this patent does not contemplate the use of a single strip of flexible material to provide cold or warm air direction and deflection in an enclosed environment such as a raised floor or dropped ceiling application. Each of the prior art patents described above, contains one or more disadvantages relative to use in an enclosed environment such as a raised floor or dropped ceiling application. Each of the systems described in those patents are expensive and require complex support mechanisms.